


If I Was a Killer

by 14CookiesGone



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: F/M, Songfic, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 04:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9701993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/14CookiesGone/pseuds/14CookiesGone
Summary: When Ashton first started asking me the strange questions, I never could have guessed where he was going with them, or how I would be forced to relive the memories once more. It was just a case of holding my nerve until the very end.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the song "Killer" by the Plain White T's, if you haven't heard it, I will insert a link in the first line of the story because I wanted to do it here but have legit no idea how??

Song can be found [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wLuWiYoclw) lyrics [here](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/plainwhitets/killer.html)

 

“Ashton and I were preparing dinner one night when he first started asking me the strange questions. At first I didn’t think anything of it, he often came out with random statements and questions that never seemed to be going anywhere. I’d known him for too long to question some of the things he came out with.”  
_“Babe?” I looked up from the tomatoes I was cutting up for the evening meal._  
 _“Yes Ash?” I answered, watching him stirring a pot on the stove._  
 _“If I had a boat, like, a big boat, would you come sailing the ocean with me?” I raised an eyebrow at the question. He had his back to me, but I could see his shoulders slightly tenser than usual while he was waiting for my reply._  
I gripped the metal handrail in front of me while I spoke. I remembered it all as if it was yesterday. Remembering things about Ashton was easy. Recounting them was the difficult part. There were things that a girl shouldn’t have to say out loud about their partners. I steeled myself before I continued.  
_“As long as it’s a really big boat and I don’t really feel the motion of the waves.” I returned my attention to the food in front of me, though I knew in my heart of hearts that he wasn’t done with the vein of thought he was currently on._  
 _“What’s your stance on pirates?” This time, I laid down the knife I was holding. Hearing this, Ashton turned to look at me over his shoulder. “You know, the buccaneering type, that pillage and plunder the booty.” I laughed._  
 _“Ash, are you trying to come on to me? Because I must say your style needs a little refinement.” He grinned his signature smile, eyes twinkling with mischief._  
 _“It was a serious question, but if you’re into it…” he laughed, raising his eyebrows suggestively._  
I trailed off slightly, glancing up at those in front of me. I knew that I had to tell the truth, but where can you draw the line in personal situations.  
_“I suppose pirates can be cool,” I agreed. “How much treasure are you looking to get?” Ashton had returned his main focus to the stove as he spoke._  
 _“We would be the most feared pirates across the seven seas. Every port would have a warrant out for us, yet we would always escape. We’d find ourselves a deserted island and bury the treasure. Then if we ever got caught, our stash was safe for us on our escape.” I smiled to myself, crossing the kitchen to add my tomatoes to the sauce on the stove._  
“I guess you could say that I thought he was just being endearing and sweet. We’d recently watched the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and he liked to talk about films for weeks after he’d watched them. And he never did buy a boat.”

 

“The second time I remember Ashton asking strange questions came about a month after the pirate incident. We’d just watched some cheesy cowboy movie that was on the television, and were curled up under a blanket on the sofa.”  
_“I’d love to live in the Wild West,” Ashton muttered, half to me, half to himself. “Hitting up banks and causing mayhem to travellers.” I nuzzled my head deeper into his chest, squeezing him around his waist._  
 _“Like Bonnie and Clyde?” I asked. I could feel him nod his agreement without even having to look up. We were so in tune to each others motions that we could communicate almost completely non verbally._  
 _“Just to rock up on a horse with guns blazing, steal the money and run.”_  
 _“Mmm,” I agreed, only now half paying attention to what he was saying. The other half of me was imagining the situation. “Why the bad guy, though?” I asked him._  
“Ashton didn’t really strike me as a bad guy sort of person. He is the most kind hearted person I know, and I just assumed that he had been watching Westerns in his time off.” I paused for a moment, trying to remember the rest of what Ash had said about the West.  
_“You’d be there, right?” he asked me. “You know, in case I got into trouble?” He spoke the last words practically into the top of my head; I could feel his lips moving mere millimetres above my hair._  
 _“I would go anywhere with you,” I replied truthfully. He kissed the top of my head lightly._  
 _“Even if it meant shooting them, killing them, just to help me get away?” I could feel his body tense beneath me as he waited with bated breath for my answer._  
Once again, I looked around at those in front of me. I was basically confessing that Ashton had violent thoughts, but I knew that it hadn’t been like that. He was imagining us being outlaws, back when highwaymen were rife and as long as you had a good horse and somewhere to hole up with plenty of ammunition, you could survive outside the law. I could see them waiting for me to continue with bated breath.  
“I told him that I would be with him until the end of the line, and that I would pull the trigger if it meant we could get away. But then again, neither of us knows how to ride a horse to get away.”

 

_“Is there anything I could say to you that would scare you away?” Ashton asked me. I was vigorously towelling my hair after a shower, and Ashton was sat on the edge of the bed, regarding me carefully. I paused my motions for a moment._  
 _“Ashton, you know that I’ve been around you for that long there’s probably not anything you could do that I haven’t seen you do before,” I replied, continuing to rub my hair. I turned away from him and crossed over to the full length mirror hanging on the wall. I could see him reflected over my shoulder, and though he hadn’t moved from his seat, he was watching me carefully, almost calculating something._  
“He asked me how bad he would have to be for me to leave him,” I stated. I looked across to where he was sat, staring doggedly at the floor. I knew that it must be killing him to hear me recount these stories in front of everyone, but he had left me with no other choice. “I didn’t have an answer for him. We laughed it off.”

 

“The third time it happened was when I really started to question why Ashton kept asking me strange things. I don’t know whether it was the question that got to me, or if it was the fact that it seemed incessant. It was maybe a month or so after the outlaw incident. However, it was Halloween, so I can’t say I really blamed him for the question.”  
_I was pacing the room, waiting for Ashton to get ready. I always assumed it was girls that took forever to get ready, but when Ashton was around, boy was that statement wrong. We were supposed to be meeting some of his friends for a Halloween party, and I had been dressed and ready for a good 15 minutes._  
 _“Babe..?” Ashton called from the bathroom. “Can you come here a second?” I sighed and made my way down the hallway. Before I had even got there, Ash pounced on me, pinning me up against the wall, with my hands high above my head. He brought his lips dangerously close to the vein on the side of my neck._  
“You see, it was supposed to be a costume party, though I wasn’t really into the festivities. Ashton however, got really into the spirit of Halloween.” I could see a small smile play on the corner of his lips as I recounted the tale. He always had had a flair for the dramatic.  
“How is this relevant?” I turned my attention to the speaker, before nodding my head and continuing to explain.  
_“Now what is a pretty little thing like you doing wandering the alleyways tonight,” he asked, and I could feel his hot breath fan out across my skin. Gulping slightly, I tried to pull out of his grasp, but that only made him move closer to me, his body almost now parallel to mine. “Offering up her services as prey, how quaint.” I bit back a chuckle. Ashton had had a few pre drinks, and I could tell he was feeling the influence of them already._  
 _“Ashton, you’re not really a vampire. It’s just a costume party.” He jerked my arms lightly, and I gasped at the sudden roughness of his motions._  
“Please, stick to just the facts.” My words were interrupted once more.  
“I’m sorry,” I replied. “I’m getting to the question.” I could feel the colour rise on my cheeks, both through what I was recounting, and also for being chastised. I was supposed to be telling the truth, not indulging in my own fantasies.  
_“What if I was a real vampire?” he asked, his voice quiet, and low. “Would you be my prey? Would you come and hunt others with me?” I could feel him move closer against me, our bodies now touching; moulding together. “Come and live in the shadows with me, picking on only those too slow to outrun us. Dying only in the sunlight, with superhuman strength at our disposal?”_  
 _“Ashton, vampires aren’t real,” I replied, pulling my arms out of his grip. “But if you were out there in the dark, I’d be there for you. Can we go now?” I attempted to make my way back towards the door, but he caught me before I was more than three steps away, and pulled me to him, my back to his front, and he bit down on my shoulder._  
“I just assumed he was being funny, under the influence of the alcohol, you know? Everyone knows that vampires aren’t real. I didn’t think he was being serious, and he certainly showed no inclination that he was about to start sucking the blood out of any of my sanitary products either.” Though I hadn’t meant to come across as crass, a disgusted look rippled across the faces of those in front of me. “But yes, I guess you could say I did offer my services as a blood donor slash potential immortal mate if the time ever arose.” As I concluded my third reverie, I was interrupted again.  
“I think perhaps we should take a recess.” I nodded, and made my way down off the stand. “We reconvene in twenty minutes.”

 

After the recess, and after I was sworn back in on the stand, I waited patiently for the question I knew was coming.  
“How many more times did Mr. Irwin ask you what you thought was a strange question?” Though I didn’t look across at Ashton, I could tell he was watching my every move. I could feel his gaze burning into me from across the room.  
“Just once more,” I replied, my voice clear and true.  
“Will you share this with us here today?” I looked at the lawyer, and nodded.  
_I loved it when Ashton drove, because it meant that I could enjoy the views. To me, even streets were views, because I loved to people watch._  
 _“Babe?” he asked, and I tore my gaze away from the man tripping up the kerb on the next street, to look at the man sat next to me._  
 _“Yes, Ash?” I replied. He glanced at me quickly, almost to check if I was paying attention, before returning his eyes to the road._  
 _“What would you do if I was on the run from something?” I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “I mean, if I was wanted by the police. What would you do?” I stared hard at the side of his head, before turning to see if, for some magical reason, there was a police car chasing us._  
“You see, Ashton had asked me this about three months after the last random question, the vampire incident. I had just assumed he had gotten tired of all the weird questions, considering I was still with him and nothing seemed to make me falter.” The lawyer nodded.  
“So what happened next?”  
_“Ash, you have got to stop watching those cop shows late at night. I swear it makes you strange for the next three days.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter, momentarily, and that was all I needed to know that he was being serious in his questioning. “Jeez, Ash, I don’t know. What are you on the run for?” He shrugged slightly._  
 _“I don’t know. Something that makes the cops want to catch you. Would you take the fall with me?” I looked at him confusedly._  
 _“You do realise that we would be in separate prisons if we got caught?” I said. “So surely it would be best if I didn’t take the fall with you? So I could still visit you in prison?” I trailed off, not entirely sure where he was going with his line of thought._  
 _“What if they, I don’t know, brought back hanging? Would you take the fall with me then? And swing with me?” I grimaced._  
 _“You do realise that they are not going to bring back public hangings, right? That died its death in like, the 1800s.”_  
“I could see that my avoidance wasn’t going to be good enough for him when he was in one of the questioning moods,” I said to the court. “But, after all, even though I did agree that I would take the fall with him, it didn’t mean that anything was ever going to happen.”  
“What do you mean by that?” the lawyer asked me.  
“Well, it was like I said, hangings have been outlawed for centuries. Why would they bring them back just because someone thought it would be a good way to go if caught?”  
_“Is there nothing about me that would make you leave?” Ashton asked me._  
 _“Why do you ask me such things?” I replied. “Ash, you know I love you, are you saying this because you actually WANT me to leave?” I could feel my voice get higher, my emotions evident in my voice._  
 _“No of course not. I just want to be clear that if I was a monster, if I was someone awful; the worst man in the world. Would you still want to be with me? Would you still be my girl?” I reached out to stroke his cheek as he drove. “Would you still love me if I was all of those things, and worse?”_  
 _“Would you still love me?” I replied in response._  
 _“Of course,” he said.  
“There’s your answer.”_

 

“So, with all of the evidence you have provided, with you saying you would stand by him, what makes you think that we would believe your testimony today?” I was asked by the prosecution. I smiled inwardly, though I allowed my features to give nothing away.  
“You see, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Though Ashton had asked me all of these questions, at no point, like I have explained, did he do anything to action on them. He never bought a boat, and we never sailed the seven seas looking for treasure and attacking coastal cities, towns and villages. He never went on a shooting spree down in Texas with only his horse and his girl for company. In fact, as far as I’m aware, he’s never even shot a gun or sat on a horse. And as you can see, he clearly isn’t a vampire.”  
“And therefore you recounted these stories, these incidents, for what purpose, exactly?” The lawyer asked again.  
“To prove to you, that although Ash.. Mr. Irwin may come out with some grandiose statements about his own morality, he’s never once acted upon them.” I pointedly kept my gaze away from Ashton now. I needed to keep clear headed with questions coming thick and fast after my testimony. “Ashton liked to know that I would be there for him, through thick and thin. The stories and anecdotes and situations were just his way of finding out if I would stay by his side. He has no need to be a pirate or an outlaw. But it’s nice to imagine that you’ll have someone at your side. All the types of people he asked if I would still love him is he was like them, are solitary characters. Pirates work alone, amongst crews of men, trusting only themselves. Outlaws work alone so they can keep as much profit to themselves. Vampires sure as hell are lonely, because have you ever read Dracula?”  
“Is there a point to the statement you are making?” the prosecutor asked, as I paused for breath.”  
“Yes. There is. Ashton never did what you are accusing him of. I’m not just saying that because of the fact that he was with me and I’m his girlfriend. I’m saying he never did it because it’s not in his nature. Despite his exterior, Ashton couldn’t and wouldn’t hurt a fly. Anyone that may or may not have heard him say that he carried out what he was accused of, is only hearing one half of the story. I can unequivocally say that Ashton was with me the entire time that the murder was taking place. Not once did he leave my side throughout the time period you are saying the murder happened.”  
“And you would swear that?” I looked up at Ashton sitting in the chair. We locked eyes briefly, and it was all the strength I needed to continue.  
“I swear it. Ashton is innocent. He is no murderer.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ok guys so this is my first song fic, though not my first idea for a song fic. I hope that it doesn't fall into the strange category of following lyrics like most of them normally do. Give me some feedback, guys, I wanna know what you think.  
> This song literally just came up in my iTunes as well so it's almost like fate.  
> And have any of you guessed the twist? Would love to hear your thoughts.


End file.
